Currently, there are telecommunication firewalls that operate on traditional circuit-switched networks, implementing a centrally managed, policy-based, enterprise-wide security policy, performing designated actions (such as allowing or denying the call, recording the call, redirecting the call, and monitoring the call for keywords), based on the determined attributes of a circuit-switched call (such as call direction, call source, call destination, and call type). U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/907,089 entitled TELEPHONY SECURITY SYSTEM describes a telecommunication firewall that operates on traditional circuit-switched networks.
Unfortunately, there is no equivalent device for performing the same and similar tasks for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls. Current IP firewalls are in place on the packet-switched network, but they deal with attributes of individual packets, not attributes of the real-time packet-switched call itself. This is indeed unfortunate because a majority of the same call attributes determined on a circuit-switched call can also be determined on a real-time packet-switched call.
Therefore, there is a need for a telephony security system and method that provides centrally managed, policy-based, enterprise-wide monitoring and/or control of incoming and outgoing real-time packet-switched calls between an enterprise's end-user station and the public packet-switched network, based on attributes of the call itself.
Additionally, there is a need for a telephony security system and method that provides consolidated, central, policy-based, enterprise-wide monitoring and/or control of calls on both a circuit-switched network and a packet-switched network.